I used to be a firm believer in using them as a means of data sharing, in fact I recall once even suggesting that perhaps we should create a page on the sites just for them... Having however worked with a couple in the past I find myself of differing opinion now.... While it's true enough that they make things easier in the entering of multiple names in a few mere clicks of the mouse even the finest of merging operations won't nescessarily catch all the possible duplicates and one can quite easily discover after the fact that X number of names and branches are now duplicated in one's database. I also find I agree with Lori's thinking, it shouldn't be too easy to take one's database from 1500 names to multiple thousands in one shot....Besides, the entering of individuals and their families makes for memories of the data entered, quearies on the board then can oftentimes trigger those memories making sharing data more than just a 1 time thing......as example, if I've entered data on a John Smith who's wife was Drusilla brown and they'd had children Frank, George, lena and Loretta I'm likely to remember it when another quearies asking regards to a J Smith and wife Drusilla Unknown....... I still to a degree work with Gedcoms, but rather than merge and anter them in that manner I prefer to create a new database for the incoming gedcom and enter the data into my main in the old fashioned way, printing out reports and doing the entry individual by individual..... I still however also think that we should in some manner have a place to store gedcoms.......heaven forbid that some accident befalls one of us or our machines and whole databases are lost forever..... Regards, Brendan

Brendan, See below for a few comments re how I prevent duplicates when I MERGE incoming GEDCOM data into my main file. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brendan Hynes Jr." <mclaclan@sympatico.ca> To: <NFLD-LAB-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, July 27, 2003 1:27 PM Subject: [NFLD-LAB] Gedcoms....pros and cons.... > I used to be a firm believer in using them as a means of data sharing, > in fact I recall once even suggesting that perhaps we should create a > page on the sites just for them... > > Having however worked with a couple in the past I find myself of > differing opinion now.... > > While it's true enough that they make things easier in the entering of > multiple names in a few mere clicks of the mouse even the finest of > merging operations won't nescessarily catch all the possible duplicates > and one can quite easily discover after the fact that X number of names > and branches are now duplicated in one's database. Brendan, here's what I do: When I receive a new GEDCOM, I load it into my Family Tree Maker (FTM) thus creating an FTM file and examine it. Then I: 1 - Use the FIND and REPLACE function in FTM to massage certain incoming data to fit MY format. e.g., I change all the NEWFOUNDLANDs, NF, NL, etc. to simply Nfld., the abbreviation I use. 2 - I assign a birth DATE (an ABOUT birth date) to EVERY person in the incoming file that dosen't already have one. MORE ON GUESSED DATES BELOW. To do this I use a little formula that has worked well. If you are interested let me know. 3 - If the incoming SURNAMES are in the format I use (Joseph Roberts SMALLWOOD), I again use the FIND and REPLACE to change the format to Joseph Roberts Smallwood. By the way, Joey is in my file as grandmother was a COOPER from Lower Island Cove, in my neighborhood and his wife was a OATES from up the road in Carbonear. MORE ON SURNAMES BELOW 4 - Of course, I back up my main file before I allow anything to be added to it. 4- When I actually get to the APPEND/MERGE operation , I use the APPEND ONLY option. This prevents FTM from MERGING anything on its own. All I've done is add the incoming data to my file without MERGING anything. 5 - Then I go through each incoming person - one-by-one - beginning with the first person in a family branch. Before I add each one, I look for possible duplicates based on either real dates or the ones that I've assigned. SEE # 2 above. As I do that, I mentally add and subtract about 10 years to/from those dates that I've guessed at. And I also look at spouses and anything else that may indicate a duplicate. 6 - As I add each person permanently to my file, I change their surname (now in lower case - SEE # 3 above) to upper case to fit my format. 7 - Before I finish, I look at my main index to make certain that there are no lower case surnames in there. What I've actually done is to use FTM to massage and APPEND the data and perform the manual MERGE function as described. By the way, it's more difficult to describe this process than to actually do it. I've been using (and refining) this method for years now and it works for me. So endth the lesson - hey it is Sunday. <big grin> Cheers. Matt